Pregnancy Update: 34 Weeks with Baby Schmieder

And just like that… another six weeks have passed since my last pregnancy update. Which means only 3-6 more weeks to go. Which means holy crap! Yes, my goal is to have everything done and ready by 37 weeks since that is technically full-term.

I feel like the past month has oddly been less focused on baby than months before… of course that’s 100% because of our major house cleanout brought on by the lil’ flea situation. Coincidentally – the list of things we got through (clean out closets, clean out storage on basement stairs, etc.) were all on our “to do before baby” checklist. So that worked out?

But now we’re back to nesting. Washing baby’s clothes and blankets and crib sheets. Getting the stuff organized in the kitchen. Finally bringing our beautiful stroller home (it’s been at Dan’s parents since the shower). Etc.

Bump Update: Week 34

Oh heeyyyy baby!

I personally feel like my bump is quite sizable? But I’m still regularly having to tell people that I’m pregnant… which I find crazy! Then they look at my stomach, ask how far along I am, then are very surprised when I say I’m due next month! I think it’s because my tatas are so big they pop out over most of it AND more so because I am still frequently wearing slouchy sweaters… BECAUSE WE WOKE UP TO SNOW TODAY.

It’s Monday, April 9, and there is at least two inches of snow on the ground. I’m not complaining at all because I really don’t have many clothing options for being 9 months pregnant in hot weather! I’ll ride this slouchy sweater / legging thing out til the end – happily! Quite comfortable!

WHERE WE’RE AT WITH THINGS

NURSERY:

98% done! JUST have to hang the curtains but we’re waiting on that. More details below…

CAR:

We got a new car! I’ve wanted an SUV for a while now. I leased a Toyota Corolla back in 2011 (then bought out the lease a couple years ago) because it had the cheapest monthly payment and that was basically my only requirement in a car 7 years ago. That and power windows (so I could lower them for the dogs in the back seat). Fancy, I know. 🙂

But with carting around a giant stroller, adding a car seat, having two dogs, and regularly lugging crap around for work, it was decided. We needed the larger car.

I was pretty set on a mid-size SUV since we’re still in the city. And the larger ones just felt too large.

Of course my two older siblings with multiple kids both kept saying “GET THE BIGGER SUV. GET THE BIGGER SUV. YOU WILL NEED IT.” I had my heart set on getting a used Volvo XC60. So many readers messaged saying “just get the XC90! You’ll love it! We LOVE ours!” And I’m all “Yessss well that’s not even kind of in our budget.”

So we looked at Highlanders and Pilots and Mazdas and used Volvos… and then the realization that we would need the larger in at least two years set in so we started looking at used Volvo XC90s. We found a few with decently low mileage that we could make work. A little more than we wanted to spend but manageable. Plus – ALL the cars were expensive. So if we were going to spend all this money, I wanted to REALLY love it.

AND THEN! We found a brand new one at our local dealer for significantly less than the MSRP, less than any other dealer in the tri-state area was offering it for, and less than any of the used ones we were looking at online…! It’s a base model, which still comes with way more bells and whistles than I’ve ever had before! So we jumped on it.

Hah but truly I do really appreciate the HUNDREDS of passionate comments that came in weighing in… ya’ll REALLY LOVE VOLVOs as much as I do! So many comments about their safety. One said a police officer told them he’s never seen more people survive accidents they should have never survived because they were in Volvos.

Plus I’ve been working my butt off since 8th grade. I’m 32 years old. It was time to TREAT YO’SELF.

So we got our dream car. Funny, I thought it was my dream car, but I think Dan loves it even more than I do. Gas mileage… not so great. But I feel SO safe in it which was my main priority for our family. Plus it’s really pretty. And it has so much storage.

So cross that off the to do list!

FITNESS:

Fitness took a hit this month when I got crazy sick with a head cold that steamrolled my body for a solid 10 days…. then Fleamageddon began at the same time – so my workouts consisted of taking turns with Dan to vacuum our house top to bottom every other day which let me tell you – gets A LOT of steps in, and is a decent arm workout! (We have a lot of rooms and a lot of upholstery!)

Other than my 10-day hiatus, I’ve been working with a trainer at Equinoxtwo times a week doing circuit strength exercises. LOTS of squats, lunges, arm, and stabilizing work. Will do a much more thorough post on this this week or next!

Finally got back in the pool yesterday too with Dan! A MUCH nicer way to spend a Sunday than vacuuming, laundering, or having to find sanctuary as Dan treats the home with pesticides… Swam 40 laps – I rotate breast stroke and freestyle, and do 10 laps with just a kick board to focus on my glutes/thighs/baby area. Gotta strengthen all those muscles!

I’ve had quite a few people ask – this is the maternity swimsuit I bought specifically for swimming laps. It was definitely more than I wanted to spend but super comfy and I figured I’ll wear it a bit this summer and with future bebes.

Pregnancy Update

Ohhh what new symptoms have creeped up… a few days here and there of crazy exhaustion still seem to be par for the course.

Kicking in the ribs – Baby is head down which is great! But MAN is he active! And strong! Lots of kicks and movement all the time. Makes the whole “kick count” thing an afterthought which is great.

Nose bleeds – I’ve now had two, but I think this was really brought on from all the nose blowing with my horrible head cold.

Leg cramps – I’ve only had this happen one day really badly, but it might have also been soreness from my workout. Seemed extreme/different from other muscle aches though so I think it more so had to do with pregnancy.

Ankle swelling – not horrible. Just enough where my socks leave indents. Not cute or comfortable. I’m getting good use out of my compression socks that a few of you recommended which help a ton!

Anxietydefinitely rose during fleamageddon which just really sucked because stress is no bueno for le bebe… Google is truly the devil and gives you so many worst case scenarios. Ok – and some comments from Insta followers who shared their horror stories also didn’t help because while I think we had a very mild situation, it kept making me worry it could be so so much worse… :/ And I get the whole “stay off the internet” ” don’t read it, Alaina” but when you’re trying to research how best to treat the situation, it’s all that comes up.

I found myself searching things like “wait, can I get a flea-transmitted disease from my 30 flea bites that can harm me or the baby?” “wait, I just had our whole home sprayed with poison… can I go back into our home?! How will that affect the baby?!” REALLY the main concern in all this was the baby/being pregnant.

Honestly so much of what is out there is mixed, it’s easy to read the bad/worst case scenarios and focus on it. Like one personal story published in the Washington Post a couple years ago from a woman whose body basically started failing her hours after her home was sprayed. Whaaaaat. Yea. #anxiety Fortunately my doctors’ have a 24/7 on-call which I only utilized twice and definitely helped calm my fears.

Also having some increased anxiety over the whole fact that ya know… we’re going to have a newborn in a few weeks. And life is about to change forever. Yeah. Reality has set in. Realizing all we don’t know – but fortunately have a lot of friends and family who remind me no one knows what they’re doing at first. And a few insanely helpful, detailed emails that have come in from folks. So thank you to them!!

It’s also helped that I’ve noticed my worry/anxiety is 100% related to me being tired… I wake up in the morning and all is right in the world. There is nothing I can’t tackle or do and life is great. Then mid-afternoon or at night, when I start getting tired, the doubts and worry creep up. So now I just let myself lay down for 10-20 minutes if I need a tiny bit of rest and usually feel better.

Sleep has definitely been impacted if I’m feeling more stressed that day. Oh I downloaded Headspace app for some meditation before bed and I really like that!

Ok enough about all that.

Also my wonderful husband Dan turned 32 at the end of March… his birthday week was spent vacuuming and treating the house, but we finally went out to dinner that Friday night when my dad was in town and he got a fancy lil’ dessert complete with candle. (We agreed the car was our birthday gift to ourselves this year).

Purchases

Recent Amazon Prime Purchases:

Oh lots of last-minute purchases getting added to the ole’ Amazon cart… we were so lucky to receive so much off our registry at our showers, but there were a few crucial items we had to add to finish it off.

These burp cloths are amazingly soft. Cannot recommend enough! They’ll be so wonderful for Baby S to rest his face against.

We bought Baby’s Coming Home Outfit! This zip-up onesie in white and this hat in white. I have to say – we now have at least a dozen different brands’ onesies in our nursery drawer, some inexpensive, some at the higher price points… and Baby Mori has hands down the softest cotton of them all. No – this is not sponsored. This is my final opinion based on touching, washing, and touching again. Even Dan couldn’t believe how soft this was.

I want to make sure Baby S has at least two of this organic cotton zip-up sleepsuit in all sizes because I’m sure he’ll have sensitive skin like his mom and dad and these are just… the softest. Note the photo above shows a 0-3 onesie which is for a baby starting at 9 or 10lbs, so definitely not the newborn size. I also plan on using that gorgeous grey lace trim blanket for his photo session at the hospital.

Ok wait, this brand MILKBARN has Bamboo onesies that are also crazy crazy crazy soft. Like whoa. Totally different feel from the MORI–lighter-weight for sure, stretchier –but insanely soft nonetheless.

Nursery Update

I know I had to give ya’ll some kind of sneak peek… this was taken… months ago. Literally. Hah

As I said above, the nursery is 98% done. The only thing left to do is organize/style and hang the curtains. Which we’re waiting on because… we put an offer in on a new home (whaaat) – so on the off-chance they accept (we expect a bidding war so there’s a very good chance we won’t get it) – we dont’ want to hang these only to take them back down (we’d have enough of other stuff to take down!). So we’re waiting until that is all figured out.

I am going to share a final “nursery design plan” later this week with sneak peeks that will outline all of the product sources we’re using in the room.

Also want to share a before/after of the closet makeover!

In the mean time, you can shop the nursery in the widget below!

Our To Do List for the Nursery:

choose art for the walls –> DONE

a bookshelf for toy and book storage –> ordered this tall pretty wood bookshelf from Wayfair that will go next to the crib –> DONE

Shop the Nursery

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10 Comments

Magdalena wrote:

Congrats on the new car! Not sure whether this will matter in your case, but just wanted give you a heads up. I purchased a new car approximately 6 months before deciding to become a home owner. Despite being pre-approved to purchase a new home, and having excellent credit, a down payment and a solid income, it wrecked havoc with my loan approval process. I hope this will not affect your plans to purchase a new home, but it might be worthwhile checking in with your lender so that you don’t lose your down payment, in the event you make an offer.

I was basically squealing with excitement for you over your white gorrrgeous new Volvo! I’m currently dreaming of one too and was planning on doing the exact same thing- looking for a used, low mileage 60 because I assumed a 90 was completely out of the question. Your story gives me so much hope!! Hah
Did you buy or lease? I’m considering both (lease is definitely a lower payment) but I know it can have drawbacks.
And I’m crossing my fingers for you on the house!

I don’t know if anyone has recommended the book Moms on Call, you can find it on Amazon or your local library. They also have an app. This is the best book, for new moms and even moms with experience. Easy to read, not judgy, insanely helpful! Even if you just use it for their tips on getting the bebe to sleep through the night it is invaluable. 🙂

I saw on your story that your newborn outfit order fell through so I wanted to share what I used. It’s the softest organic cotton, and the newborn size is actually accurate. Nothing else I brought fit my baby girl!